Organizations often use surveys or questionnaires to obtain information regarding employee satisfaction, organizational issues impacting staff performance, and perceptions of pay and benefits, organizational culture, etc. Sometimes, questionnaires are used in classes for staff development and focus on behavioral styles, conflict styles, or team behaviors. Additionally, surveys may be used to help intact teams or departments focus on and resolve team differences or performance issues. Many times, the questions themselves provide people with insight into what the organization expects from its employees.
The Scenario
You are the leader of a cross-functional team that has not been performing well. You are not sure what’s causing the problems, but you know that the team cannot continue this way. You have contacted the Human Resources (HR) department for help, and they suggested using the High Performing Work Teams Survey as a tool to diagnose problems within the team. Every team member will complete the survey anonymously. The HR department will analyze the results and will work with you to develop a plan to address issues.
Your Task
Read the questions in the High Performing Work Teams Survey. The survey follows these instructions. You will analyze the questions, identify trends you see in the questions, and discuss what you and the members of your team could learn by taking this survey.
Write 4-7 pages (not counting the cover or reference pages), summarizing the trends you identified, describing what you and your team members could learn from taking the survey, and discussing your conclusions about what is required of team members in order to create a high performing work team. Support your opinions and statements with a minimum of five references from sources published within the last ten years.
You can cite scholarly and practitioner-oriented journals, newspaper articles, YouTube videos, (but not Wikipedia, vendor websites, or other non-academic sources.) Please use the UMUC library to search for appropriate sources rather than Google or other search engines. Librarians are available by phone, email, and chat; they are excellent at their jobs and they love to help students. See the Library link in the Resources section (on the ribbon at the top of our classroom) or go directly to https://sites.umuc.edu/library/index.cfm for more information and to begin searching for sources. You can also consult a graduate writing tutor for help with organizing your ideas, presenting them clearly, and complying with APA style requirements. You can access tutors through the Writing Tutoring module in our classroom.
Use APA format for citations, references, and quotations. This means your list of references should start on a separate page, and should be double spaced, with a hanging indent and no spaces between entries. Your analysis should be 4-7 pages (not counting the cover or reference pages), double spaced with one-inch margins and a font size of at least 11 points. The rubric for Grading High Performing Work Team Analysis is provided along with this document (it follows the High Performing Work Teams Survey). The rubric gives details on how your analysis will be graded. Keep in mind that most organizations value efficient communication; busy managers don’t have time – and most don’t have the desire – to read long reports. Keep your writing clear and concise.
